Workplace Wellness
by Aurora Moreno, LICSW, LIMHP, Omaha Integrative Care + Nikki Smith, Program Partner
AURORA: Organizations are living, breathing systems that shape and are shaped by the individuals within them. At Omaha Integrative Care, we support organizations and those who work within them to author their path to sustainable work and whole-person wellness with RESET, Resilient and Embodied Systems Experiential Training, a resource we’ve developed over years of supporting organizations in mitigating modern occupational hazards of vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout. RESET is a wellness service of Omaha Integrative Care, a collaborative health & wellness clinic offering mental health therapy, psychiatric medication management, primary medical care, yoga, massage, acupuncture, and more. Like our clinic, our team of RESET coaches is multidisciplinary and brings diverse expertise and perspectives to coaching and experiential learning.
As an independently licensed clinical social worker and mental health provider, my coaching through RESET is informed by my trauma-focused clinical psychotherapy practice and the values of integrative healthcare. In my work as a coach, I co-author a path to sustainable wellness alongside those with whom I work. Each coaching relationship is dynamic and unique, as every member of an organization has a unique constellation of lived experience, capacity, inspiration, and goals. Through RESET, my colleagues and I have had the honor of supporting folks in healing systemic wounds of vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout with diverse supports, including 1-1 coaching and experiential learning, that meet the ever-evolving needs of individuals within an organization.
I’ve had the opportunity to partner with the team at Inclusive Communities for several years now to support their team’s overall wellness as they navigate the complexities of fostering diversity, inclusion, respect, equity, and justice for all people in our community. We honor that movement work has always been complex, but in our current landscape, staying well in this work requires person-centered supports that reflect that complexity. OIC’s RESET team has cultivated supports tailored to IC’s unique needs that include 1-1 coaching, leadership workshops, wellness offerings, and experiential learning. Supporting Inclusive Communities in doing their transformative work has been an honor and delight. I am so thrilled to support their team in tapping into their innate capacity for resilience and well-being as they nourish movement work in our community.”
NIKKI: This is just more information for you to use so you can make the best decisions for yourself moving forward…” This phrase is one I have heard often throughout the last year or so from Aurora, my job coach, and one I’ve begun to say to others. Rather than looking at an unpleasant or “bad” experience with negativity, think of that situation as just information for you to use so you can make the best decisions for yourself moving forward. This growth mindset perspective and practice in acceptance have helped me reframe many experiences in this past year, both personally and professionally. That is just one of many examples of how job coaching has impacted me.
I’ve never had a job that provided any kind of coaching from an outside organization. For me, it has felt a little bit like therapy for work. If we are spending the majority of our waking hours at work, then it makes sense to have someone to talk to about just work things. I did not realize how much I had internalized the ‘hustle culture’ or how much baggage I carried from previous jobs where I was seen simply as a cog in the wheel and not as a person. I needed some help working through some of those things and learning to think about myself differently as a human and as an employee. My self-worth has grown because my coach has reminded me often that my value is not tied to my productivity or output levels. She has helped me identify strengths and has also been one of my biggest cheerleaders. She has taught me to celebrate things like having the courage to have a difficult conversation with someone or saying ‘no’ to something and not feeling guilty about it.
I have also deeply appreciated that Aurora continuously reminds me and demonstrates that she is there for ME. I am never worried that she has any secret agendas or that she will tell anyone at work things I share with her. Unlike traditional HR, which is really there to protect the organization, my coach helps me figure out what I need to be a healthy human. Even if that means establishing a boundary, taking time off, or, heaven forbid, finding another job (which clearly has not happened). And like any good coach, she also challenges me and encourages me to step outside of my comfort zone in ways that promote growth and not lead to burnout. She has also gently reminded me to stay in my lane when I have wanted to take on things that were not my responsibility.
Aurora is a clinical social worker, which also happens to be what I am in grad school for currently. Not only has she provided support and wisdom for me as I continue to work at Inclusive Communities, but she also taught me how to be a better social worker and mental health practitioner. I will be forever grateful for the things she has modeled in our time together that I will take with me into my own future practice someday.